Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of massage jets and more particularly toward a massage jet employing an oscillating shuttle that creates a reciprocating effect for the purpose of providing a massage for a person positioned inside a hydrotherapy vessel.
Description of the Prior Art
Hydrotherapy vessels are often used to soothe sore muscles and joints for persons sitting thereon. The hot moving water provides a therapeutic effect. Additionally, massage jets are included in the vessel to provide pressure on specific points on the body. The massage jets utilize moving objects as well as moving water to provide this effect.
Some prior art devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,029 to Holtsnider provide a hydrotherapy jet that provides pulsating water stream around a movable shuttle housed inside the jet that causes a stream of water to pulsate as it exits the jet that can then be used to provide a massage to a person sitting in the vessel. This invention includes a tab that is required for the invention to work. Without the tab in the prior invention, the movable shuttle would wedge into an exit opening. The tab in the '029 patent keeps the shuttle free to move with the turbulence of the water without being lodged in an exit hole.
It is the object of the instant invention to provide a hydrotherapy jet similar to the '029 patent, but that does not include the tab but rather provides for a different movement of the movable shuttle wherein the movable shuttle reciprocates back and forth along the center axis to maintain its position substantially centered on the center axis whereas in the prior art patent the movable shuttle is kept away from the center axis by the tab leaving the movable shuttle to bounce around the center using turbulence in the water flow. The instant invention improves on the prior art in that no tab is required and the water moves around the shuttle differently providing an improved hydrotherapy single shuttle jet.